


Test of Courage

by mousapelli



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Questionable Advice, Senpai-Kouhai Relationship, Training Camp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 08:50:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16971531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mousapelli/pseuds/mousapelli
Summary: Sugawara warns Tsukishima about fooling around with cute upperclassmen from rival schools, but maybe not for the reason Tsukishima originally thinks.





	Test of Courage

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 2018 SportsFest, Bonus Round 2, for Kazuyas. Quote prompt was:
> 
> “Crows remember human faces. They remember the people who feed them, who are kind to them. And the people who wrong them too. They don’t forget. They tell each other who to look after and who to watch out for.” - Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
> 
> Training camp shenanigans is totally one of my favorite tropes, as is the idea that it's really best for everyone that Kuroo and Suga didn't have a bunch of training camps together before this year.

"Watch out for that guy," Sugawara says, making Tsukishima raise an eyebrow. He points, but Tsukishima doesn't have to look because he already knows Sugawara is pointing at Kuroo.

"I don't know what you mean," Tsukishima says bluntly. Yesterday it would have been the truth, but today it's the barest glimmer of a lie to say that he hasn't noticed Kuroo touching him a little more or glancing in his direction a little more often, the edge of his grin just a little more smug. If Kuroo asks him to sneak outside after lights out or meet him in the bathroom, Tsukishima won't be shocked.

It's the sort of thing that happens at training camp, isn't it? Tsukishima's been to enough of them in middle school, even if he's never been the one getting asked out back before.

"Yes you do," Sugawara says, not fooled. He's wearing the easy smile that Sugawara usually wears, especially when he doesn't mean it. "And I'm telling you, maybe not that guy."

Tsukishima wants to ask what Sugawara thinks he knows about it anyway, but he's afraid Sugawara might actually tell him, in graphic detail, so instead he presses his lips into a tight line and gets up to stretch with the other first years.

He ends up in Gym 3 again before dinner, where Kuroo is all helpful tips and concerned Captain Senpai. When he wraps his fingers around Tsukishima's wrists to correct his form, Tsukishima's heart rate rises even as he hears Sugawara's warning echo in his ears like a questionable Jiminy Cricket.

"Hey, Tsukki," Kuroo says, standing just a little too close, examining the taping job on Tsukishima's fingers. He presses his thumb into the center of Tsukishima's palm and rocks it in a little circle. "Couple of us are meeting in the stairwell after lights out to do a test of courage. Wanna come?"

"Are you fucking around with me?" Tsukishima asks, yanking his hand back and holding it behind his back, out of reach. "If I show up, it'll be just you in that stairwell, right?"

"Nope." Kuroo's grin spreads wider when Tsukishima just eyes him. "Cross my heart. Unless there's something you wanna do, hey, Tsukki?"

Tsukishima looks away, hands fisted, pink creeping up his neck. "What idiot even falls for that trick? Save your shitty ghost stories, Kuroo-san." Kuroo laughs out loud, not the reaction Tsukishima was looking for, and he frowns when Kuroo slings a too-familiar arm around Tsukishima's shoulder to drag him over to Bokuto and Akaashi.

"It's a training camp tradition," Kuroo tells Tsukishima, voice lowered like they're sharing a juicy secret. "This guy's in."

"You're in?" Bokuto asks, eyes sparkling. "Tsukki, bro! Oh man, I'm so pumped! I'm the BEST at test of courage!"

"It's pronounced _worst_ , Bokuto-san," Akaashi comments, giving Tsukishima a slow blink that Tsukishima can't decode.

"Akaaaaaashiiiiiii!"

There really is a test of courage, which Tsukishima absolutely does not scream during unlike Kuroo, although Kuroo does come out of it with some Tsukki-sized bruises on his arm. Afterwards, Kuroo doesn't do anything more untoward than steal a few kisses around a dark corner while Tsukishima's heart is still racing, his back still clammy with sweat. Tsukishima has the uncomfortable realization that he would have let Kuroo get away with a lot more.

Back on the bus on the way home, Kuroo's info saved deep in his phone, Tsukishima is still rolling the whole thing over in his head after everyone else is asleep. It's not until they're off the bus in Miyagi and sorting out duffel bags that Tsukishima sidles up to Sugawara and clears his throat.

"Why'd you say that to me, before?" he asks. Sugawara stares back, eyebrows raised, waiting. "He didn't try to take advantage of me or anything. It was just…nice."

"Geez, Tsukki, that's what I was trying to warn you about," Sugawara tells him, scolding gently, but like he honestly didn't expect any better. "It's the nice ones that really get under your skin. Don't you know anything?"

"Apparently not," Tsukishima tells him. His phone buzzes in his pocket, and he knows without looking who it's from.

Sugawara laughs, light-hearted and entirely ominous. "Oh you will, _trust_ me."


End file.
